Def Leppard

Short Biography
Andrew McManus Presents

DEF LEPPARD

with special guests Cheap Trick

They've sold more than 65 million albums, played to more than 50 million fans and have produced a series of classic rock albums that helped define a whole generation of music. Just say the words ‘Pyromania', ‘Hysteria' and ‘Adrenalize' and it can be no other than DEF LEPPARD!

Andrew McManus Presents is thrilled to announce the British rock heavyweights will include Australia in the world tour for their new album "Songs From The Sparkle Lounge" in what will be their first visit since 1992. The tour will kick off with a mighty big bang in Perth with a huge outd...

Short Biography
Andrew McManus Presents

DEF LEPPARD

with special guests Cheap Trick

They've sold more than 65 million albums, played to more than 50 million fans and have produced a series of classic rock albums that helped define a whole generation of music. Just say the words ‘Pyromania', ‘Hysteria' and ‘Adrenalize' and it can be no other than DEF LEPPARD!

Andrew McManus Presents is thrilled to announce the British rock heavyweights will include Australia in the world tour for their new album "Songs From The Sparkle Lounge" in what will be their first visit since 1992. The tour will kick off with a mighty big bang in Perth with a huge outdoor show on Friday October 31.

To celebrate the band's long overdue return to Australia, the ever-popular CHEAP TRICK will be along for the ride, making this one helluva double shot of rock! Local Melbourne band THE GALVATRONS are the lucky ones to have scored the support spot.

The DEF LEPPARD story is now down in rock history. From humble beginnings in Sheffield 30 years ago, the band became a world conquering musical force.  They have garnered almost every accolade and award available in the music industry and are one of an elite few (along with Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, U2 and the Eagles) to have received two Diamond awards for individual album sales in excess of a staggering 10 million units for the ground-breaking "Pyromania" (1983) and "Hysteria" (1987).

With singles like ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me', ‘Love Bites', ‘Rocket', ‘Rock of Ages'  ‘Armageddon It',  ‘Let's Get Rocked' and ‘Photograph', DEF LEPPARD became a staple at rock radio all over the world.
But it hasn't all been incredible highs. The band has weathered some devastating tragedies including the death of original guitarist Steve Clarke after a drug overdose, and drummer Rick Allen's car accident, which resulted in him losing an arm.

However the band - Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Cullen (guitar), Vivian Campbell (guitar), Rick ‘Sav' Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums) - have stuck together and are now back in the spotlight with a new album "Songs From The Sparkle Lounge" - their first new material in six years.

The first single ‘Nine Lives', a collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw, hit #1 at US and UK rock radio, while the album debuted at #5 on the US Billboard chart, their 11th consecutive US Top 20 album. ‘Nine Lives' ‘Photograph' and ‘Rock Of Ages' are also featured on the phenomenally popular "Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock" game on XBox and Playstation, released in March.

DEF LEPPARD's spectacular live shows have made them a touring institution, as they continue to sell out arenas around the world - Australia get ready!

CHEAP TRICK burst out of Rockford, Illinois in the late 70's with an irresistible blend of pop, punk and metal. With timeless classics like ‘I Want You To Want Me', ‘Surrender', ‘Dream Police', ‘If You Want My Love' and the late 80's lighter-waving favourite ‘The Flame', the band have sold more 20 million albums and had their songs featured on 30 movie soundtracks.

The four original members Rick Nielson (guitar), Tom Petersson (bass), Robin Zander (vocals/rhythm guitar) and Bun E. Carlos (drums) are still together, and still giving fans a fantastic live show.

THE GALVATRONS are definitely one of the current buzz bands. The synth-rock four-piece have just released their debut EP ‘When We Were Kids', had rave reviews on their first trip to the UK and are due back there soon for the European summer festival circuit. Their unique sound and up-vibe live show will kick off the night perfectly.

DEF LEPPARD, CHEAP TRICK and THE GALVATRONS - get set for an unforgettable night of classic rock!

In-depth Biography
Def Leppard, in many ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s. There were many bands that rocked harder (and were more dangerous) than the Sheffield-based quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well. Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam rock and metal of the early '70s, as their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen, and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard was poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, and skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. The musicians were already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos that made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies, and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria. As the '90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard's signature pop-metal and toward edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late '90s and were one of only a handful of '80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact.

Def Leppard had their origins in a Sheffield-based group that teenagers Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in 1977. Vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatic follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band several months later, bringing the name Deaf Leopard with him. After a spelling change, the trio, augmented by a now-forgotten drummer, began playing local Sheffield pubs, and within a year they had added guitarist Steve Clark to the lineup, as well as a new drummer. Later in 1978, they recorded their debut EP, Getcha Rocks Off, and released it on their own label, Bludgeon Riffola. The EP became a word-of-mouth success, earning airplay on the BBC. The group members were still in their teens.

Following the release of Getcha Rocks Off, Rick Allen was added as the band's permanent drummer, and Def Leppard quickly became the subject of the British music weeklies. They soon signed with AC/DC's manager, Petter Mensch, who helped them secure a contract with Mercury Records. On Through the Night, the band's full-length debut, was released in 1980 and instantly became a hit in the U.K., also earning significant airplay in the U.S., where it reached number 51 on the charts. Over the course of the year, Def Leppard relentlessly toured Britain and America, playing their own shows while also opening concerts for Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hagar, and Judas Priest. High 'n' Dry followed in 1981 and became the group's first platinum album in the U.S., thanks to MTV's strong rotation of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak." MTV would be vital to the band's success in the '80s.

As the band recorded the follow-up to High 'n' Dry with producer Mutt Lange, Pete Willis was fired from the band for alcoholism, and Phil Collen, a former guitarist for Girl, was hired to replace him. The resulting album, 1983's Pyromania, became an unexpected blockbuster, due not only to Def Leppard's skillful, melodic metal, but also to MTV's relentless airing of "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages." Pyromania went on to sell ten million copies, establishing Def Leppard as one of the most popular bands in the world. Despite their success, the band was about to enter a trying time for their career. Following an extensive international tour, the group re-entered the studio to record the follow-up, but producer Lange was unavailable, so they began sessions with Jim Steinman, the man responsible for Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. The pairing turned out to be ill-advised, so the group turned to their former engineer, Nigel Green. One month into recording, Allen lost his left arm in a New Year's Eve car accident. The arm was reattached, but it had to be amputated once an infection set in.

Def Leppard's future looked cloudy without a drummer, but by the spring of 1985 -- just a few months after his accident -- Allen began learning to play a custom-made electronic kit assembled for him by Simmons. The band soon resumed recording, and within a few months Lange was back on board, having judged all the existing tapes inferior and ordered the band to begin work all over again. Recording sessions continued throughout 1986, and that summer, the group returned to the stage for the European Monsters of Rock tour. Def Leppard finally completed their fourth album, now titled Hysteria, early in 1987. The record was released that spring to lukewarm reviews, with many critics claiming that the album compromised Leppard's metal roots for sweet pop flourishes. Accordingly, Hysteria was slow out of the starting gates -- "Women," the first single, failed to really take hold -- but the release of "Animal" helped the album gather steam. The song became Def Leppard's first Top 40 hit in the U.K., but more importantly, it launched a string of six straight Top 20 hits in the U.S., which also included "Hysteria," "Pour Some Sugar on Me," "Love Bites," "Armageddon It," and "Rocket," the latter of which arrived in 1989, a full two years after the release of Hysteria. During those two years, Def Leppard's presence was unavoidable -- they were the kings of high-school metal, ruling the pop charts and MTV, and teenagers and bands alike replicated their teased hair and ripped jeans, even when the grimy hard rock of Guns N' Roses took hold in 1988.

Hysteria proved to be the peak of Leppard's popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early '90s, as the band took a break from the road and set to work on a new record. During the recording process, however, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Clark had historically battled with alcohol, and following the Hysteria heyday, his bandmates forced him to take a sabbatical. Although he did enter rehab, Clark's habits continued, and his abuse was so crippling that Collen began recording the majority of the band's guitar leads. Following Clark's death, Def Leppard resolved to finish their forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several successful singles, including the Top 20 hits "Let's Get Rocked" and "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad," the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After its release, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell to the lineup, thus resuming Def Leppard's two-guitar attack.

In 1993, Def Leppard released the rarities collection Retro Active, which yielded another Top 20 hit with the acoustic ballad "Two Steps Behind." Two years later, the group released the greatest-hits collection Vault while preparing for their their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it proved more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, indicating that Leppard's heyday had indeed passed and they were now simply a very popular cult band. Undaunted, Leppard soldiered on, returning to their patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999. Despite the success of "Promises," the record failed to produce any additional hits, resulting in a return to adult pop balladry on 2002's X. The two-disc Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection arrived in 2005, followed in 2006 by Yeah!, a strong collection of covers. In 2008, the band released their ninth studio album, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, which debuted at number five and was supported by a lucrative summer tour. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide